PORTS of Jersey are not anticipating disruption to travel services this Christmas period after a union announced they would be balloting Airport firefighters over industrial action.
A spokesperson for the arm’s-length organisation said they were maintaining a “constructive dialogue” with the Prospect and Unite unions.
This comes after the Employment Tribunal ruled that an ongoing pension row between the two parties should be resolved through negotiations facilitated by the Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Service (JACS) – the Island’s employment relations service – rather than through the legal route.
Bob King, Prospect’s national secretary, commenting this week on the ruling for the first time, said the union “offered discussions” at JACS to “find a satisfactory way forward” while “imminently restarting the industrial action ballot that [Ports] previously blocked”.
In a statement sent to the JEP, a Ports spokesperson has now commented on Prospect’s response, saying: “We are maintaining a constructive dialogue with both Prospect and Unite unions, while we consider the next steps. We do not anticipate any impairment of service.”
The dispute centres on Ports of Jersey’s decision to close the Public Employees’ Pension Scheme to new members from January 2020. New employees were instead offered what the union described as “a savings scheme that provides a finite sum and not a pension”. Union secretary Mr King previously described the changes as “hugely detrimental”.
Ports of Jersey, however, defended the alternative scheme as a “good-quality pension” with employer contributions ranging from 5% to 10%. In response, Prospect argued the Airport firefighters were the only group of eligible emergency service workers in the Island to be denied access to the pension scheme – leaving them without the same protections afforded to ambulance staff, police and civilian firefighters.
